Note: This is a slightly shortened, matey, edited version o' Ted's article with fewer pictures.  Visit Ted's site for all t' pictures.

Backround

 My plans are t' certify in '99, either at Whittakers or a NOVAAR club launch in northern Virginia. Avast! Begad! Rather than go from D's t' H's in one long jump (and missin' t' fun along t' way), I decided I'd better get more experience with midpower rockets, me bucko, experimentin' with construction techniques as I go.

 Beginnings

 I knew I wanted t' do a 2.6" airframe (BT-80), matey, me hearties, shiver me timbers, and considering another upscaled Yellow Jacket seemed appropriate. Arrr! After 'imagineering' several ideas over t' next couple o' weeks, ya bilge rat, t' final design be set down on paper, and then put away so as t' get a fresh look at it in t' future. A month or so later, arrr, I pulled out t' design, shiver me timbers, looked it over, made some changes, and finalized it. Aye aye!

 Features:
2.75x upscale Estes Yellow Jacket
BT-80 body tube (2.6")
Three 24mm motor mount cluster
Through-the-wall, to-the-motor-mount fins *
Mid-body separation
Anti-zipper design with ejection baffle *
All-balsa fins, arrr, me bucko, strengthened with laminated bond paper *
Home-made decals *

 * - new techniques for me

 Considered but rejected for this bird be a removable motor mount system that would allow different engine configurations. Avast, me proud beauty! Aye aye! I figured that there was enough new stuff in this design, ya bilge rat, and t' removable system could wait for another rocket.

 Construction

 First step was calculatin' t' upscale measurements. Arrr! Since t' NC-80 nosecone I had be much shorter scale-wise than t' original, I added length to the body tubes t' make up t' difference. T' rocket looks a little different, but it's close enough for me. Avast, me proud beauty! Well, blow me down!

 Once t' body tubes were cut t' length, spirals were filled with Elmers' Fill-n-finish and sanded. Begad! T' nosecone joints were also sanded and made ready t' prime. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Then t' upper pieces and nosecone were set aside for awhile because t' motor tube/fin assembly was goin' t' take some time t' do right. Begad!

 I cut three centerin' rings from 1/8" balsa for t' cluster motor mount. Avast! T' ensure that things would be strong enough, I laminated bond paper to each side o' t' rings with thin CA. This little trick adds a *lot* o' strength to balsa. After drillin' out t' motor tube openings, arrr, some careful work with a dremel sandin' drum trued up t' holes. Ya scallywag!

 Engine hooks were added t' t' motor tubes (9" long BT-50), me bucko, and here is where I made a possible mistake (in hindsight); I added engine blocks to t' tubes. This will make it difficult, if nay impossible t' fly anything larger than Estes 'D' engines in this rocket. Well, blow me down! Clusterin' composites is tricky and maybe I won't ever *want* to, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, but t' option might've been nice. Ahoy! Arrr! Time will tell. Well, blow me down!

 After soakin' t' motor tubes in thin CA (for durability), I assembled them t' t' front and middle centerin' rings. Ahoy! Avast, me proud beauty! T' middle centerin' rin' sits at the top o' t' fin tabs, arrr, providin' that much more strength t' t' completed assembly. Begad!

 Next I cut t' slots for t' fins into t' body tube. Arrr! Measure carefully, me hearties, but don't be overly worried about neatness, ya bilge rat, since t' fin fillets will cover small mistakes. Ahoy! Ya scallywag! I just used an x-acto with a brand new blade t' make the cuts; make several light passes and it goes pretty smoothly. Well, blow me down!

 On t' t' fins. Ahoy! T' Yellow Jacket has fairly large fins, so I considered many alternate ways t' do them. Avast, me proud beauty! What I finally decided on was t' use 1/8" balsa laminated with thin CA and bond paper. This be nay t' easiest method, shiver me timbers, but hey, it's a learnin' project. Begad! Ya scallywag!

 Since t' fins were larger than t' width o' me balsa, I carefully cut the fin template t' fit 4" wide balsa. Avast! Blimey! (see figure 1) This became the "top" two thirds o' each fin. Avast! T' rest o' each fin was cut out o' the remainin' balsa usin' t' rest o' t' template. Avast! Blimey! Amazingly, me bucko, I got all three fins (six pieces) out o' a single piece o' 36"x4"x1/8" stock. Ahoy! Avast, matey, me proud beauty! Blimey! Then I carefully edge glued t' fin pieces together usin' yellow glue, me bucko, and weighted them down betwixt wax paper for a day. When dry, ya bilge rat, matey, I lightly sanded t' glue lines and joints until smooth. Avast, me proud beauty!

Next came fittin' t' fins/motor mount assembly into t' bottom body tube. Careful sandin' and checkin' allowed everythin' t' fit together nicely, with the fins nestlin' into t' valleys betwixt motor tubes. Well, blow me down! Aye aye! Yellow glue drizzled into place and allowed t' dry over t' next couple o' days made this entire unit rock-solid. Begad! Aye aye! T' last step was t' glue t' rearmost centerin' rin' into position, matey, buttin' up t' t' bottom o' t' fin tabs, and applyin' yellow-glue fillets t' t' fin/body joint (on t' outside).

 First step t' finishin' t' fins was t' cut six fin templates from bond paper. Blimey! I cut t' fin tabs off o' t' templates, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, me hearties, then trimmed 1/4" from each template. I wasn't sure how t' thin CA would react with t' yellow glue joints runnin' along each fin span, me hearties, so I also cut t' templates in half there. Begad! Arrr! (see figure 2) In effect, ya bilge rat, each fin side was laminated with two separate pieces o' bond paper. A generous amount o' thin CA was applied t' t' fin and spread smartly with a scrap balsa 'edge'. Blimey! T' paper was applied and t' CA soaked through as t' paper was squeegeed t' t' surface with t' scrap balsa. T' trick was t' use plenty o' CA, because gluin' down edges later was more difficult than gettin' it all down in t' first place. Well, blow me down!

Do this in an area with plenty o' ventilation, me hearties, me bucko, me bucko, those CA fumes are strong!

 Here I ran into another problem; I ran out o' CA. Well, blow me down! Blimey! After checkin' local sources, shiver me timbers, I decided t' try some CA available at a nearby model train store. Turned out t' have a completely different chemical composition, and although it worked (sorta), it was ugly and needed a *lot* more effort t' finish adaquately. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Very very expensive too. Begad! Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! I finally bit t' bullet and drove many miles t' t' nearest rocket shop for *real* CA t' finish t' fins.

 Once everythin' was dry (I waited overnight), I started layin' Elmers' Fill-n-Finish onto t' fins where t' paper edges met bare wood, includin' the gap along t' wood glue joint. Aye aye! Lettin' it dry a couple hours, matey, followed by light sanding, and then repeatin' t' process a couple more times let me get t' fins smooth. Avast, me proud beauty! Nay perfect, me bucko, but nay too bad. Ahoy! Arrr!

 Now I started buildin' t' fin fillets. Avast, me proud beauty! Ya scallywag! Blimey! Usin' generous amounts of Fill-n-Finish t' build them up, arrr, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, followed by careful *light* sanding, ya bilge rat, arrr, t' YJ fins almost appear t' 'melt' into t' body tube. Avast, me hearties, me proud beauty! Blimey! Once t' fillets were done, matey, me hearties, I painted thin CA over t' Fill-n-Finish t' toughen it up, rounded t' fin edges, and did t' final shapin' and sandin' on t' fins. Ahoy! Begad! Blimey!

 1/4" launch lugs were aligned and fastened with yellow glue. Ahoy! One near t' bottom o' t' rocket, me bucko, and one right below t' mid-body separation line, matey, very close t' t' CG. Arrr! I filleted t' lugs with Fill-n-finish and thin CA too.

 T' bottom third o' this rocket took 95% o' t' construction time. Arrr! One last thin' goes into t' bottom section, and that's t' ejection baffle/anti-zipper coupler. Begad! For this, matey, I cut four bulkheads from 1/8" balsa and sanded them t' fit inside a BT-80 body tube coupler. Avast! Two bulkheads were glued together with t' grains at a 90 degree angle; this became t' top o' the baffle. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! Four 3/8" holes were drilled around t' perimeter o' it, me bucko, and a hole be drilled in t' middle for an eyebolt attached with fender washers and nuts. Ya scallywag! This top baffle was glued inside t' top o' t' coupler with yellow glue and filletted well on both sides. Begad! Once it was dry, thin CA was soaked into the bulkhead for added durability. Blimey!

 T' middle bulkhead was drilled with a single 3/4" hole in the center, me bucko, soaked with CA, then coated with a heavy layer o' yellow glue before attachin' t' t' inside middle o' t' coupler. Ya scallywag!

 T' bottom bulkhead is drilled with holes around t' outside edge (like t' top) and soaked with thin CA before attachment. Since this bulkhead takes t' brunt o' t' ejection particles, I gave it a good thick coat of yellow glue on t' bottom face. Ya scallywag!

 T' completed baffle/coupler was glued halfway into t' bottom tube/fin section. Well, blow me down! Blimey!

 T' original plans for t' anti-zipper design had t' shock cord runnin' from t' bottom coupler, arrr, up through t' body tube, me bucko, and fastenin' t' the nose cone. Begad! I decided t' do it slightly differently. Begad! Arrr! Another bulkead was made (two actually, me hearties, matey, laminated together like t' top o' t' baffle), and a second eyebolt was attached facin' downwards. No other holes were drilled. This bulkhead was glued into place at t' top o' t' uppermost body coupler. Well, blow me down! Avast! Before gluin' t' coupler in permanently, arrr, I attached a quick-link and an 8' length of 1/2" elastic shock cord. A 24" nylon parachute from Recovery Technologies is used. Blimey! Avast! I bought a yellow one t' go with t' rocket. Blimey! Aye aye!

 T' nose cone is friction fitted *and* has it's own 'emergency' shock cord attached in t' Estes 'paper sandwich' style. Arrr! This allows about a 12" payload section at t' top end o' t' rocket. Next time though, matey, me bucko, I'll run the shock cord t' t' nosecone. Aye aye! T' upper shock cord will be a pain t' replace the way I did it, me bucko, if it's ever necessary. 

Finishing

T' entire rocket was sprayed with 3 coats of primer, followed by a light sanding, then 3 more coats o' primer with sanding between coats. Avast, me proud beauty! Begad! T' top section was measured, ya bilge rat, masked off, and painted with gloss black Krylon. Begad! This be allowed t' dry for about a week. T' bottom section was then painted with Krylon Safety Yellow and also allowed t' dry for about a week.

 I used a photocopier t' enlarge t' original Yellow Jacket decal set (stripes and t' bee logo) t' t' correct scale, then scanned t' logo into the computer. Aye aye! Usin' Paint Shop Pro, I cleaned up t' logo and saved it t' a .tif file. Begad! T' stripes were measured and scaled, then drawn usin' MS PowerPoint. The logo file was added t' t' page, me hearties, me hearties, me bucko, and CP and identification info was created as well. T' one change made t' t' stock decals (besides scaling) was the "YJ-324" plate added t' t' stripe set. T' page be then laser printed onto decal paper from Tango Papa decals (highly recommended) and oversprayed with clear glosscoat. Ya scallywag! When dry, me bucko, shiver me timbers, t' decals were cut apart and applied in t' standard way. After t' decals dried overnight, shiver me timbers, I gave the entire rocket a couple o' light coats o' glossy clearcoat. Well, blow me down!

 T' paint scheme and logo decals are nay perfectly scale; t' black comes too far down t' tube, shiver me timbers, me bucko, and t' 'bee' was made a bit smaller to compensate. It looks good enough t' me, ya bilge rat, I'm happy with it.

 Stats and Flight Report

 Final ready-to-fly weight came out t' just over 20 ounces. T' CP of the Yellow Jacket is even with t' top o' t' fin root (derived usin' VCP), me bucko, me bucko, me bucko, and the loaded CG is just below t' mid-body separation joint. This gives the YJ-324 better than a 2 caliber stability margin, me bucko, ya bilge rat, and will allow t' use of larger and heavier motors without needin' much (if any) nose weight. Aye aye!

 First flight o' t' YJ-324 was at t' NOVAAR sport launch on 24 October, ya bilge rat, 1998, me hearties, in Manassas, shiver me timbers, VA. Begad! Aye aye! Blimey! Three Estes D12-5's were prepped and loaded into t' motor mount tubes. Well, blow me down! Blimey! T' solar igniters were placed in such a way that all three igniters had one leg twisted together in t' middle, and two o' the igniters had t' second legs twisted. Begad! This allowed me t' use one clip on one leg o' t' igniters (3 twisted together), and a simple clip-whip t' t' other legs (2 twisted together and 1 single). Avast, me proud beauty! Aye aye! Blimey!

 T' second flight be a disaster. See t' section below; Death o' a Rocket (pictures are thar too). Blimey! Aye aye!

 Summin' Up

 Buildin' this rocket accomplished me primary goal; t' learn new techniques necessary for mid-power and high-power rocketry. Begad! Begad! I'm nay goin' to get any experience with bigger motors with t' YJ-324, me bucko, but other winter rocket projects can help there. Blimey! Overall, arrr, arrr, me hearties, this is an impressive lookin' rocket, and fun to fly. Aye aye! Now I need our local craft store t' run more o' those 50% off coupons (triple-D clusters for less than $5.00 a launch). Avast!

 Materials and Resources

 Tango Papa Decals email: BakerTom@aol.com

 Granddad's Hobby Shop phone: 703 - 426 - 0700
5260-A Port Royal Road fax: 703 - 426 - 0702
Springfield, me hearties, VA 22151-2113

 Recovery Technologies phone: 602 - 915 - 0915
4807 W. Begad! Ya scallywag! Purdue Ave.
Glendale, AZ 85302 web: WWW.INFICAD.COM/~DAVEF